


When Remus decides he likes Sirius Black

by aqua_myosotis_scorpioides



Series: The PB to my J [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, Marauders, Meet-Cute, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:46:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27654998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aqua_myosotis_scorpioides/pseuds/aqua_myosotis_scorpioides
Summary: ‘Do you want a hug?’Sirius looked at him suspiciously, ‘Why?’‘Because,’ Remus decided he might as well go all in, ‘That’s what you do when your friend looks like they need one.’This is a prequel to my longer texting story The PB to my J, which is set two years later.  Can be read as a stand alone but if you want to read what happens next you can do sohere
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: The PB to my J [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018050
Comments: 55
Kudos: 217
Collections: finished





	When Remus decides he likes Sirius Black

‘Mum! Will you stop fussing,’ Remus huffed, trying and failing to tug the duvet and cover of out his mother’s hands, ‘I can do it!’

Lyall chuckled from in front of the small cupboard Remus presumed was manifesting as his new wardrobe and he bent down to grab another jumper from the bag at his feet, sliding it onto a hanger and hanging it up alongside several others, ‘You’re fighting a losing battle there Rem, I’d just let her do it.’

Remus rolled his eyes, ‘You’re no better Da,’ he said, looking pointedly at his father, who was now unpacking Remus’ sock and pants and putting them in a drawer, ‘I’m perfectly capable of hanging up my own clothes AND making my own bed,’ he glanced back at his mother.

‘We know love,’ his Dad tried to appease, ‘But let your old parents feel useful one last time.’

Remus scoffed, ‘You’re acting like I’m never going to come home again, and you’re not _that_ old.’

‘I feel old,’ Lyall said brusquely, clearing his throat, ‘I can’t believe we’re here already.’

‘Oh Lyall, don’t!’ Hope said, her eyes filling with tears for what felt like the tenth time that day and holding out her arms for yet another hug.

‘Mum,’ Remus said, going over and letting her wrap her arms around him, towering over her, ‘You promised no more crying. I’ll be home for Christmas, in what? 10 weeks? That’s hardly any time at all.’

Hope reached up a hand to stroke her son’s cheek, Remus bending down a little, ‘I know, but Dad and I are going to miss you so much. What are we going to do without you stomping around with those giant feet at all hours, hmm?’ Remus laughed.

Lyall walked over to the two of them and prised Hope off her son, ‘Let the boy breath Hopey, we’ll be alright,’ he turned to Remus, ‘We’re so very proud of you son.’

‘I know, you’ve said,’ Remus answered, feeling tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, ‘Now stop it, don’t ruin my credibility, I’ve got to look cool in front of my new friends.’

‘Why don’t you give me and your mother a moment to finish sorting out here and head on into the kitchen,’ Lyall suggested, ‘there were a couple of young lads in there when I went to pop the milk back in the fridge, why don’t you go and introduce yourself?’

‘Yes,’ Hope agreed, ‘Perhaps you’ll see that lovely looking dark-haired chappie we passed on the stairs, he seemed like a nice boy.’

‘Yes, don’t think I didn’t see you giving him the once over,’ Lyall waggled his eyebrows.

‘Gross. No thank you Da,’ Remus said and then sighed, ‘Ergh, I’ve got to do the whole _I’m gay_ bit, I’m dreading it to be honest.’

‘You don’t need to lead with that Remus love,’ his mum said soothingly, ‘And anyway, I’m sure they’ll be fine.’

‘Any problems you just send them my way,’ his dad spoke up.

Remus looked at him fondly, ‘And you’ll do what exactly?’

‘Tell them their fools and they’re missing out on a cracking friendship with a cracking bloke.’

‘Thank Dad, I appreciate the sentiment,’ Remus pulled down the hem of his jumper and pushed his sleeves up, ‘How do I look?’

‘Super cool,’ Hope said decisively.

Remus laughed, ‘You would say that, you’re my mum.’

\------------------------------

Remus wandered down the hall, running his hands along the crudely painted brick walls, a slight smell of disinfectant permeating the stale air and opened the door to the small kitchen. The lights in here were bright, glaring off the cheap white surfaces which were littered with various bags, belonging to his new hallmates, who were currently standing by the square table under the window. There were three of them; two tall, one not so. Tall A and Not So Tall were talking animatedly whilst Tall B hovered on the side-lines, looking slightly anxious, eyes flickering between the other two. All three looked up as Remus walked in, Tall A and Not So Tall immediately grinning at him. Tall B however stared right at him before seemingly realising what he was doing and shooting Remus a weak smile. 

Remus took stock of the three of them; Not So Tall was slightly round, with a ruddy complexion which gave him pink cheeks. He had bright blue eyes, which Remus thought looked kind and his hair was a light mousy brown, swept over to one side. Both Tall A and Tall B had black hair but where Tall A’s hair was going for the been dragged through a hedge backwards look, errant strands sticking up all over the place, Tall B’s hair was sleek and shiny, sitting around shoulder length and half pulled up to a careless knot which emphasized his sharp cheekbones and startling grey eyes. Remus’ dad hadn’t been wrong when he’d said Remus had checked him out on the stairs, he definitely had. 

Tall A stepped forward, smiling broadly, dark skinned forearm outstretched. Remus could see the muscles in his upper arms through his t-shirt, sporty he reckoned to himself, before quickly sticking his hand out. Tall A gripped it hard, yes, definitely sporty, and gave it an enthusiastic shake,

‘Hi! You must be our fourth!’ he said excitedly, ‘I’m James Potter.’

‘Remus,’ Remus said, grinning back, James’ smile seemed to be contagious, ‘And yes, I guess I must be.’

‘Remus. Cool name,’ Not So Tall piped up, hurrying forward to offer his hand to Remus.

‘Thanks,’ said Remus, ‘I got it for my birthday.’

‘Ha!’ Not So Tall laughed, he had the straightest teeth Remus had ever seen, ‘Mine’s Peter, well Pete really. Pettigrew.’

‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ Tall A, James Remus reminded himself, asked.

‘Yeh, that would be great actually,’ Remus said, and James busied himself, grabbing a blue stripy mug out and a cupboard and pouring him a cup. He turned and looked at Remus for a moment, scrutinising him before turning back and adding just a splash of milk and exactly one and a half teaspoons of sugar.

Remus laughed astonished, ‘How did you know that?!’ he demanded.

‘Intuition,’ James winked, ‘I thought to myself that Remus there, he likes it strong with a touch of milk and precisely one and a half sugars.’

‘Not two?’ Remus questioned.

‘Nah, two is too sweet but ones not quite sweet enough.’

‘Well colour me impressed,’ Remus said, taking the proffered mug and seeing that the tea was just the right colour, ‘Cheers James.’

‘Welcome,’ James said, taking a slurp of his own tea and then slamming the empty mug on the table.

‘He got ours right too,’ Tall B finally spoke, holding out his hand, ‘Sirius.’ His accent was clear and obviously upper class but Remus was sure he could hear just a hint of an accent, maybe French, his brain supplied.

‘Great name,’ Remus said, shaking Sirius’ pale hand and Sirius’ smile became more genuine.

‘Thanks, you too, very lupine.’

‘You’ve only heard the half of it,’ Remus replied, ‘My surname’s Lupin.’

Sirius snorted, ‘No way!?’

‘Yup,’ Remus said, ‘And my dad’s called Lyall which is,’

‘Derived from the Norse word Liulfr meaning wolf, yeh I know. Oh my God, that is brilliant.’

‘Oh,’ said Remus impressed, ‘Yeh, and,’ he paused for dramatic effect, ‘My mother’s maiden name is Howell.’

‘Wow,’ Sirius continued to chuckle, ‘You really are all about the wolves.’ There was a pause before he added, ‘I like your accent.’

‘Thanks,’ Remus grinned at him, ‘Welsh.’

Just then the door opened to reveal Hope, whose face lit up when she spotted Remus talking to the boys, ‘Remus darling, I’m sorry to interrupt you, I think me and Da are going to head off. He’s already gone down to the car, the parking was running out. Hello boys,’ she said smiling round at them. The three boys smiled back.

‘Mum, this is James, Pete and Sirius,’ Remus said pointing to them in turn.

‘Well it’s lovely to meet you, I can feel you’re all going to be firm friends.’

‘Oh I agree Mrs Lupin,’ said James hurrying forward to shake Hope’s hand, ‘We’ll be an awesome foursome.’

‘Oh my dear, so polite!’ Hope exclaimed shaking James’ hand, ‘And call me Hope.’

‘What a beautiful name,’ James said, giving her a wink.

‘You charmer,’ she reached up to pat James on the cheek, he looked thrilled.

Remus snickered but couldn’t help be secretly impressed at how genuinely charismatic Jams seemed to be and smiled at him as he came back towards the table where himself, Pete and Sirius were still standing.

Remus looked to the three of them, ‘Give me a sec,’ he said and went over to his mother and bent down to hug her. He squeezed her tight around the middle before lifting her up and giving her a jiggle.

‘Remus John Lupin put me down this instant!’ she cried. Remus laughed and put her down before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

‘Love you mummy,’ he said, ‘I’m going to miss you.’

‘No you’re not,’ she said giving him a tearful smile, ‘You’re going to be having too much fun with your new friends to remember your poor old mum,’

‘Never,’ said Remus adamantly, ‘Ring me once you’re home?’

‘Of course Cariad,’ Hope said, ‘Now come and say goodbye to your father, he’s got himself all emotional.’

‘Back in five,’ Remus threw over his shoulder to the boys and followed his mum out the kitchen.

\-----------------------------

Ten minutes later his parents were on their way back to Wales. Remus trudged back up the stairs, stopping to help a pretty girl with long red hair who was struggling with a suitcase, and eventually turned back on to his floor with the intention of making himself another cup of tea and then continuing to sort out his bedroom. However, as he walked down the corridor a voice called, ‘Rem, we’re in here.’

He followed the voice to the nearest room and found Sirius and Pete sitting on the bed whilst James pulled things out of a battered old suitcase. He looked around the room, a couple of posters up on the walls and a few photographs, including one in an expensive looking silver frame of James and an older man and woman. Judging by the state of the man’s hair Remus presumed them to be James’ parents. There was also an oar propped up against the wardrobe.

‘You row?’ Remus asked and then mentally kicked himself for asking such an obvious question.

‘Yes!’ James said enthusiastically, ‘I love it, literally more than anything else ever.’

‘Cool,’ said Remus, not really knowing what else to say. 

He had just decided on asking whether James was going try out for the university team when Sirius said abruptly, ‘How come you’re so tall?’

Remus looked at him, not sure if the question had been directed at him and when he realised it was said, ‘Sorry, what?’

‘How come you’re so tall? Sirius repeated, ‘Your mum’s really small.’

Remus laughed, ‘Oh my dad’s tall,’ and then he added, ‘Although not as tall as me. All my dad’s family are tall. I’ve got a Great Uncle who’s like 6ft 7” or something.’ ‘Anyway,’ he said to Sirius, ‘You’re tall too.’

Sirius hummed, ‘Yeh, I guess, 6ft or something.’

James snorted, ‘There’s not way you’re 6ft mate, I’m 6ft and I’m definitely taller than you.’

Sirius flushed, ‘Well nearly 6ft then.’

‘Always better to round it up,’ Remus smiled at him, noticing that Sirius flushed further.

‘I wish I was tall,’ Pete said wistfully, ‘The girls only want the tall ones.’

‘Don’t be silly Pete,’ James said, ‘You’re a good-looking chap. If a girl only wants you for your height then we’re not interested, right lads?’ He looked around for some agreement and Remus nodded quickly.

Remus sat down on the bed next to Pete, ‘I’m always bashing my head on things anyway,’ he told him, ‘I’m probably too tall, I’d rather be just around 6ft,’ he gave Sirius a wink. ‘We can stick together,’ he turned back to Pete and Pete beamed at him. Remus decided that he liked Peter Pettigrew.

Pete turned his attention to Sirius, looking him up and down, ‘Bet you don’t have any problems with the ladies,’ he said to him.

Sirius, who Remus noticed was still looking at him, whipped his head around, ‘What? Umm, no I guess not.’

‘Do you have a girlfriend then?’ James, who was now piling reems of paper and empty folders onto his desk, asked.

‘Nah,’ said Sirius, ‘Parents are a bit funny about that sort of thing, seemed easier to just leave it when I was at home.’ Remus thought this was an odd thing to say but kept his mouth shut.

‘Oh fair enough,’ James said, ‘What about you Remus? Got a girl back home?’

‘Nope,’ said Remus, and then thought fuck it, might as well get it over with, ‘Girls aren’t really my type.’

James looked at him, a flash of realisation crossing his face before continuing without pause, ‘Oh sorry, got a boy back home?’

Remus laughed, relief flooding him at the way James’ hadn’t even blinked, ‘Still no.’

Pete pulled out his phone and showed Remus a picture of him and a pretty dark haired girl, their arms thrown around each other. ‘That’s Cressy,’ he said, ‘We’ve been together about a year, she decided to stay in Newcastle for uni so not sure it’ll last but we’ll see,’ he shrugged. 

‘She looks banging mate,’ James said, peering over to look at the phone and clapping Pete on the shoulder, ‘You’ll have to invite her up for a weekend, would be great to meet her.’ Remus wondered whether James was going after some sort of nicest person in the world award. He couldn’t get a read on Sirius though, whose eyes kept flicking towards Remus. He caught his eye and raised an eyebrow,

‘You ok?’

‘Your eyes are different colours,’ Sirius blurted out and then looked mortified.

‘Are they?!’ said James, coming over to the bed and staring into Remus’ eyes, ‘Woah! Mate that’s fucking awesome! Bet the boys love that!’

Heart swelling slightly at James’ easy acceptance, Remus grinned back at him, ‘Yeh, it has been mentioned a few times. I dunno know though, I think it makes my face look sort of wonky.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Sirius said softly, his own eyes, a really striking shade of grey Remus noted, darting between his own.

‘Is one your mum’s colour and one your dad’s?’ Peter piped up, breaking the spell.

‘No,’ Remus said, now feeing a bit warm under the scrutiny, ‘Both mum and Da have brown eyes, not sure where the green one came from.’

‘Well, as I said, its awesome,’ James repeated, picking up his phone and beginning to type.

‘Close the left one?’ Sirius requested gently, Remus did. ‘Now close the right one?’ again Remus did as asked. ‘It’s like they’re the same, but also totally different at the same time.’ He paused, ‘I’ve never met anyone with it before, does it have a name?’

‘Heterochromia,’ Remus answered, ‘It’s normally hereditary but,’ he shrugged, ‘no-one else in my family has it. I guess I’m just special.’

‘Yeh. Well I think it’s wonderful,’ Sirius breathed and then looked away, clearly embarrassed and Remus didn’t miss the calculated look James threw him before saying,

‘Well I’m more or less done here chaps, what do you all say to some dinner?’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Pete said, ‘I’m starving.’

‘Yeh, me too,’ Remus agreed, suddenly realising just how hungry he was, ‘We cooking or…’ he tailed off.

‘Nah,’ said James, ‘Let’s get pizza, my treat. I’ve just googled it and there’s a takeaway literally round the corner. Sirius mate, come with me?’

Sirius looked up, ‘Yeh, ok,’ he said slowly, and then looked very taken aback when James grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up off the bed and linked their arms.

‘Any requests lads?’

‘I’m easy,’ Remus answered, and James gave him a another one of his winks,

‘Oh are you now Remy boy?’ he snickered and Remus laughed. Remus decided that he liked James Potter.

\------------------------------

Remus spent the next half an hour or so sorting out his room before James and Sirius got back and the four of them headed down to the communal common room where they split three pizzas and a side of cheesy garlic bread between them. Sirius produced a case of fancy looking beer, mumbling that a cousin had sent it to him with a note saying it would help him make friends. Remus wasn’t sure whether this was meant as a joke or not. Where James kept easy conversation going, Pete interjecting here and there, both seeming genuinely interested in learning about their new friends Remus noticed that Sirius didn’t say much at all. He answered questions when directly asked, smiled politely and laughed when appropriate. Remus couldn’t tell whether he was shy or actually just a bit anti-social, it was almost as though he wasn’t used to people wanting to talk to him.

As the evening wore on others came to join them, including the girl Remus had helped on the stairs earlier. Her name was Lily and James took an instant liking to her, moving to sit down next to her and immediately bombarding her with question after question, the poor girl looked a bit harassed. Remus noticed Sirius watching them and caught his eye giving him an exasperated look and Sirius smiled back at him. Remus learnt that where their floor was all boys, Lily’s floor was all girls, herself and her hallmates Alice, Dorcas and Marlene. Sirius half heartedly flirted with Alice for a bit, which made Remus’ chest flutter slightly, although he couldn’t put a finger on why. Too much pizza he told himself. Remus struck up conversation with who he was pleased to find out was also going to be studying PPE, at least he’d know someone going into his first lecture. She was also gay, and they laughed that they were clearly male and female counterparts. Both Sirius and Alice were studying French, (he’d guessed correctly on the French lilt then,) that Pete was doing psychology and Dorcas maths. Lily was taking Chemistry which got James overly excited as he was doing medicine, meaning they would have some lecture together for the first year.

At around 11pm they decided to call it a night and all trooped off to their respective rooms. Remus pottered around for a bit before nipping to the kitchen to make a cup of chamomile tea and then sat scrolling through Instagram waiting for his parents to call. At about twenty minutes to midnight his phone rang and he spoke briefly to his parents about what he had done that evening, assured them that yes, he had eaten some dinner and no, he hadn’t drunk too much. As he put his phone down a wave of homesickness hit him and he allowed himself a little cry. He looked around his new room, which suddenly felt cold and impersonal, despite the nick nacks he’d brought from home. He’d just pulled out the patchwork quilt his grandmother had knitted for him years back, spreading it on his bed hoping it might make him feel a bit better when there was a quiet knock on the door.

Puzzled, Remus pulled it open to find Sirius standing there in pyjama bottoms and white t-shirt, arms crossed over his lower body and hair now thrown up in a messy bun.

‘Hi,’ said Remus, surprised, ‘You ok?’

‘Yeh,’ Sirius answered, not making eye contact, ‘I heard you on the phone, you sounded sad,’ he said before adding, ‘Sorry, the walls are really thin.’

‘Oh. Yeh. It was just mum and dad saying they’d got home. I’m alright though. Did you want to come in?’ He opened the door to let Sirius in and then closed it behind him, turning to find Sirius standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. ‘You can sit,’ he told him and Sirius sat down on the bed, running his fingers over the quilt.

‘This is nice,’ he said, ‘Did someone make it for you?’

‘Yeh, my Granny,’ Remus said, coming to sit down next to him, ‘Its old now though, but it makes me think of home.’

‘It’s lovely,’ Sirius said earnestly and then added, ‘I don’t have anything like this.’

‘Oh,’ said Remus, not really knowing how to respond to that, the mood seemed oddly sombre. ‘Well, not everyone can knit,’ he said with an awkward laugh.

‘No, not that,’ Sirius looked at him, ‘I mean I don’t have anything that someone’s made for me. Well, I’ve got this,’ he began twisting an ornately engraved gold signet ring that was on the little finger of his left hand, ‘But every eldest child gets this. I don’t like it really.’

‘Then why do you wear it?’ Remus asked confused.

‘It’s just easier than not. My parents are,’ he paused, ‘Traditional,’ he finally seemed to settle on.

‘Oh ok,’ Remus said, not really understanding at all, ‘Well, you could take it off now couldn’t you? I mean, they’re not here so they’d never know.’ Sirius said nothing.

They sat in painful silence for a couple of minutes and Remus had just decided to ask whether Sirius had needed something when he spoke,

‘You get on really well with your parents, don’t you?’

‘Well yeh,’ Remus said, now even more confused, ‘They’re my parents. Don’t you get on with yours?’

‘Umm, no, not really,’ Sirius said, ‘Well, I don’t see them very much so I don’t know.’

‘Do they live abroad or something?’

‘No, they live in London, although they are in France a bit, we just had nannies growing up and then I went to boarding school at seven. I stay at my Uncle Al’s flat a lot too, he’s not often there but it’s better than…’ he stopped abruptly and bit his lip.

Remus grasped on the first thing that came to mind, ‘Wow, I’ve never met anyone who went to boarding school before. Was it fun?’

Sirius shrugged, ‘Yeh, I guess. My parents are annoyed that I’ve come here for uni.’

‘Why?’ Remus asked, feeling utterly bewildered by the conversation,

‘My family usually always go to, you know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m pleased I came here though.’ 

Sirius fell silent and Remus noticed he was shivering slightly. ‘Here,’ he said rummaging in his wardrobe and pulling out a navy blue jumper and handing it to Sirius, ‘Another granny special.’

‘Oh, it’s great,’ Sirius said politely and tried to hand it back to Remus.

‘No, I mean you can wear it, you’re cold.’

‘Oh! No,’ Sirius said looking horrified, ‘There’s no need, I’m sure I’ve got something I can put on.’

‘Sirius, put on the goddam jumper,’ Remus said with a laugh. Sirius relented and pulled the jumper on and smiled weakly,

‘Thanks.’

‘No problem, that colour really suits you, brings out the silver in your eyes.’

‘Oh,’ Sirius said again, a blush spreading across his pale skin. He brought a hand up to his face before dropping it in his lap and tugging the sleeves of the jumper over his hands, ‘Thanks.’

The silence settled back over them, Remus was tired.

‘How long have you been gay?’ Sirius asked suddenly. Remus felt like he was getting whiplash from Sirius’ abrupt form of questioning, so different from James’ easy back and forth.

Remus raised an eyebrow at him, ‘Umm, always?’

‘Ok,’ Sirius nodded and then his eyes widened, ‘Shit, I didn’t mean it like that, I meant, I meant,…’ he tailed off, the flush on his face now creeping down to his collar bones which were visible above the collar of the jumper.

‘You meant…’ Remus probed and Sirius looked at him,

‘I’m not homophobic,’ he said fiercely.

Remus held his hands up, ‘I didn’t think you were Sirius.’

‘Good. Because I’m not. At all.’

‘I know,’ said Remus.

‘I was just interested, that’s all,’ Sirius finished lamely, ‘Fuck, I’m not very good at this am I?’

Remus laughed, ‘No, not really,’ he nudged Sirius with his shoulder and was relieved to see the other boy smile. ‘I suppose I realised when I was in secondary school,’ Remus decided to give Sirius a break, ‘I never had one defining moment but it was sort of telling when all my mates were talking about which girls’ knickers they wanted to get into and I was more interested in the contents of Stephen Withers boxers.’

Sirius snorted, ‘Yeh, I guess that would do it. And your parents didn’t mind?’

‘Not at all,’ Remus said, ‘I never had to worry about coming out to them or anything, I just came home and told them one night.’ ‘After getting into Stephen Withers boxer’s.’

Sirius pretended to gasp, ‘Remus Lupin! James was right, you are easy!’

Remus laughed and it turned into a yawn.

‘I should leave you to it,’ Sirius said, standing up, the jumper falling past the tops of his thighs. Remus couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes reflected the blue, almost glittering in the dim light.

‘Yeh, ok,’ Remus agreed, standing up too as Sirius pulled open the door, ‘Night Sirius.’

Sirius smiled at him, ‘Night Remus,’ and he closed the door behind him.

Remus sighed and crawled into bed, telling himself he’d brush his teeth extra hard in the morning, a horribly familiar feeling bubbling up in his chest. He took a deep breath, pushing the feeling down before rolling over onto his side and waiting for sleep to come. And if he did dream of silky black hair, flawless skin and silver eyes that sparkled, well, he didn’t remember in the morning.

\------------------------------

Remus woke early, disconcerted for moment before it dawned on him where he was. It was quiet so he figured no-one else was up. He slipped out of bed, foregoing putting on a t-shirt, and crept towards the kitchen with the intention of making himself a cup of coffee and then settling back into bed to start on his reading. He was just pulling the milk out of the fridge when he heard a noise behind him which made him jump and turned to see Sirius standing there, a blush high on his cheeks. Remus wondered why the boy always seemed to be blushing.

‘Shit Sirius you scared me!’ he huffed, pouring milk into his mug. Sirius was still wearing his jumper, it was too big and the sleeves had fallen over his hands giving him sweater paws, adorable sweater paws Remus traitorous mind pointed out. The fluttering in his chest from the night before returned.

‘Sorry,’ Sirius mumbled, staring directly at Remus’ bare chest and then cleared his throat, ‘Sorry,’ he said again, louder this time and moved to make his own cup of coffee, ‘Are you an early riser too?’

‘Not normally, no,’ Remus told him, ‘New place I guess.’ Sirius hummed in agreement.

‘Do you want the milk?’ Remus went to pass it to him.

‘No thank you,’ Sirius said, ‘I take in Black. Obviously,’ he rolled his eyes.

‘Why obviously?’ Remus asked intrigued.

‘Oh, umm, my surname is Black.’ Something stirred in at the back of Remus’ mind.

‘Oh! You’re not related to Orion Black are you? As in that politician that’s really,’ Remus broke off, embarrassed.

‘As in that politician that’s really bigoted?’ Sirius finished for him, ‘Yeh, I am. He’s my dad.’

‘Oh,’ said Remus, at a total loss of what to say next, some of their discussion the previous night now making a bit more sense.

‘I’m not like him,’ Sirius said quickly, ‘I’m nothing like him.’

‘Sirius,’ Remus said placatingly, ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t think you were.’

‘Ok good,’ Sirius said but he looked miserable and Remus felt a huge rush of sympathy for him and before he could censure his mouth, which obviously had it in for him he heard himself ask,

‘Do you want a hug?’

Sirius looked at him suspiciously, ‘Why?’

‘Because,’ Remus decided he might as well go all in, ‘That’s what you do when your friend looks like they need one.’

‘Umm. Alright then,’ Sirius said, putting his mug down on the side and standing stock still in the middle of the room, arms rigid by his sides.

Remus walked over and wrapped his arms around the stiff shoulders and after a moment he felt Sirius’ arms tentatively follow suit around his waist, body relaxing every so slightly. Remus was just about to pull away when there came a clattering sound and James appeared, bright eyed and slightly out of breath. He was dressed in running gear.

‘Oh excellent! Is it hug time?’ he exclaimed, charging forward and enveloping the both of them in his arms.

‘Something like that,’ Remus muttered amused, as James squeezed tight.

‘Don’t tell Pete,’ Sirius’ voice was muffled from where he was pressed against Remus’ shoulder, ‘He’ll feel left out.’

‘Nah,’ said James, finally releasing them, ‘We can have another hug later. Love a good hug.’ He stepped back and began banging things around in his cupboard, obviously looking for something in particular.

Sirius looked up at Remus and mouthed, ‘Thanks,’ giving him a shy smile, rolling up the sleeves of the jumper. Remus noticed that the gold signet ring was gone from his finger and the fluttering feeling in Remus’ chest intensified.

‘No problem,’ he mouthed back.

Remus decided that he liked Sirius Black.


End file.
